Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

For those of you that thought the chat section of the article in the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette about Riggs for Mayor ended with the two or three snippets posted here, you're wrong.

I have pasted more of the comments here for your perusal:

Reader comments and feedback for the
Riggs to run for mayor of Pickerington
article.

Anyway, for those who still care about free speech, here is a summary of a conversation that I had with the current first lady of Pickerington shortly after her husband's election: the controlled growth plan proposed by the Shaver administration is a valid and fair program that does not seek to stop growth, it only asks those who profit from the growth to pay part of the cost of expanding city serivcies to meet the needs of the developers' customers rather than expecting the current residents, many of whom feel that their quality of living is being degraded by growth, from being forced to contribute on a par with the new residents while the only people who clearly benefit from the growth, the devleopers themselves, contribute only a token portion of the total cost of developing their new ''communities.'' If Pickerington succeeds in holding those who profit most to paying a fair share of the added expense of having their products in the community, then Lancaster, Lithopolis, Baltimore and every other community that might be set up as an easy mark for a fast buck developer will have a much easier time resisting the influence peddling that leads up to these sweetheart deals that increase builders' profits by passing a significant portion of the true total cost of buying a new home on to the existing residents of the community, many of whom don't want new neighbors in the first place.



Picktown Swami



Joined: 15 Aug 2007
Posts: 4
Location: Pickerington
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:04 am Post subject: Riggs as Mayor or an extension of David Shaver's Policies


What does Riggs as Mayor have to offer the citizens of Pickerington?
My prognostication is 4 more years of David Shaver like Politics.
Riggs has been a blind follower of David Shaver and his policies and iniatives, and has publicly stated so in the Columbus Dispatch.
Riggs is and probably will continue to be an operative for the Fix Shaver
concerns at City Hall. What leadership qualities have been established in her time on Council? Riggs says she wants to NOW engage the public,
what a departure from her record. One of the current Mayor's shortcomings is in appearances, grand openings, etc. Now look at Rigg's council & committee attendance records. Not very impressive. Most of the grand openings, ribbon cuttings occur during the work day, how will that work with her new job?

What we need in a Mayor is someone who will present a positive image about Pickerington, be present for ALL the ribbon cuttings, grand openings etc, and be a uniter of everything dealing with the public image of Pickerington. I admit there currently is a low threshold to surpass to show improvement of the performance of David Shaver, but hopefully someone else will run that better matches the needs of Pickerington.

It is time for change in Pickerington Politics. Riggs is not a change agent but represents a continuation of the current administration.

God help us all if there is no other choice.





nobody



Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 8
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 1:29 pm Post subject: Not what's needed


Heidi preaches a good game but needs people behind the scenes telling her what to say and do. She's a good-ol buddy Republican tied to the Lancaster crew and county party but she's has a Democrat running her campaign.

We need original thoughts and someone concerned about the city of Pickerington not another clone.

Thanks but no thanks Ms. Riggs.

More comments





crissallen



Joined: 13 Mar 2007
Posts: 99
Location: Lancaster, OH 43130
Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 9:24 pm Post subject:


Would you like to see Pickerington go back to the days when developers would buy up farmland like it was gold, plant cheap, oversized and overpriced houses on them then expect people who have lived in Pickerington for years to pay as much for the cost of the new streets, utilities and schools that these delvelopers' customers will need to live in their new homes as the people who created the need them?
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Picktown Swami



Joined: 15 Aug 2007
Posts: 4
Location: Pickerington
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 4:00 pm Post subject: Where is the connection?


What does:

Would you like to see Pickerington go back to the days when developers would buy up farmland like it was gold, plant cheap, oversized and overpriced houses on them then expect people who have lived in Pickerington for years to pay as much for the cost of the new streets, utilities and schools that these delvelopers' customers will need to live in their new homes as the people who created the need them?

have to do with Heidi Rigg's qualifiactions for Mayor?



llsjrattorney



Joined: 24 Dec 2006
Posts: 39
Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 9:33 am Post subject:


If she's such a bad choice, will Swami run against her?





crissallen



Joined: 13 Mar 2007
Posts: 99
Location: Lancaster, OH 43130
Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 11:21 pm Post subject:


The connection, Picktown Swami, is that's what pre David Shaver Pickerington was like. if you don't want it to return to that, you must elect someone who agrees with the Shaver platform to replace him, or you're going to get another bought and paid for mayor who will let the BIA go back to expecting the lifelong residents of Pickerington to subsidize their customers' new home prices.
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Last edited by crissallen on Sun Aug 19, 2007 7:47 am; edited 2 times in total





crissallen



Joined: 13 Mar 2007
Posts: 99
Location: Lancaster, OH 43130
Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 7:43 am Post subject:


BTW - Heidi Rigg has served on council for at least as long as Daivd Shaver has been mayor. How much more qualified do you have to be to be mayor of a town of 9,000 that also has a professional city manager?

More comments



nobody



Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 8
Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 8:43 am Post subject: Laugh a minute

First of all to assume that if Heidi's not elected we're headed back to ''old Pickerington'' is a joke. Secondly, Heidi is the epitome of the ''good ol' boys'' network. Her connections through the infamous NW Fairfield County Republican Club, down through the Lancaster Party along with her past affiliation with Blackwell makes her the kind of Politician Pickerington DOES NOT need!

I quote '' Pickerington City Councilwoman Heidi Riggs said she will seek the Pickerington mayor's seat in this November's election because she believes the residents of the community need a new voice.'' ''Politics has had too much to do with decision-making in this community over the years,'' Riggs said. ''My leadership style and career accomplishments give me the ability to bring people together, and that's what I want to do as mayor. That's what this community needs.''

Career accomplishments? She was HR director for Blackwell who gave her the position so she'd deliver Fairfield county for him in the Governor's race. That went over well. She's now an HR person for a small food distribution company or something like that. Accomplishments....?

Her leadership style on council to date has been ''My way or the highway'' so I'm not sure that style is what we need more of. Didn't work for the current Mayor, isn't going to work for her either.

Now that she's running for Mayor she's suddenly distancing herself from Mayor Shaver, whom she was the closest of allies before! NOW we need a new direction and she's going to provide it? WHAT A JOKE.

More comments



Picktown Swami



Joined: 15 Aug 2007
Posts: 4
Location: Pickerington
Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 8:48 pm Post subject: Where is the connection 2 response to crissallen

This is in response to a prior posting by crissallen.

Pickerington has had a long history of different Politicians during it's progression from a sleepy little village to the City it currently is.

I'll admit we have experienced growing pains and looking back, some things could have been done differently, but we have to deal with what we have. Back in the 80's it was pretty nice, unfortunately nothing lasts forever.

David Shaver, Jeff Fix, & Heidi Riggs, are responsible for taking the City to where it currently is. Choices like selecting SZD as law director, the BIA selllement, the BUS Barn deal, hiring DLZ @ $8000,000.00 to engineer a sewer project that the City had previously paid close to a million dollars to a different engineering firm to do, which could have been updated at a minimal cost, using taxdollars to pay a consultant to write PR pieces for themselves, etc. are just some examples of just how free and loose the Shaver administration is with out tax dollars. The Shaver administration has had a mis guided sense of priorieties from day one.

Their attitude all along has been to do what they want to, not really being too concerned about how the residents felt about a variety of legislation.

Sure they talked a good game about controlling growth, but most people can understand that if you only control 1 of 3 municipalities contributing to growth, you cannot control it. The growth moratorium accomplished nothing, it was a PR program that was rushed through.

Being fair there has been some good legislation.

The ''Swami'' in me says watch for talk of a very small JEDD to appear in September just in time for the election. It will have the usual amount of details. The information will match Riggs platform: 2 miles wide by 1/4 inch deep. It's all PR, no details.

So if you see a value in continuing with the above agenda, Riggs is your choice.

I would urge you to do as many of the former Shaver followers have, quit drinking the Kool Aid, and think for yourself.

I do not believe as you infer that anybody but Riggs will be a choice to go back to something that you did not like. I believe we should have an open mind and evaluate whatever any candidate for Mayor represents to the City. I know what Riggs represents, I do not know what any other candidate represents. My opinion is we need a change in attitude at City Hall, and I believe Riggs will not take us there.

Electing Riggs as Mayor will continue the ''Good Old Boy'' relationship with the NW Republican Club, the Fairfield County Rupublican hacks, and everybody else that has been active in calling the shots in Pickerington.

We need a mayor that is concerned about our City, and does not owe allegiance to anybody else, or has promises to repay. Watch for the endorsements, they will send a message.

Filing deadline is in a few days, the ''Swami'' predicts it will bring us more options than we currently know about.